Senior Learning Curve

[ase]

One might think, by now, that I would know how to approach group projects.

Well.

Reminders to future self:

• Divvy up work. Hand out assignments of who will do what part of the research. Divide and conquer by topic."Well, see what you can come up with" does not work.


• If other people fail at conquering PubMed, let it go. Their part is sketch, but your part is in last. As in, eleventh hour last.


• Wiki is your first line of defense against your own ignorance.


• Wiki is not infallible. Defer to PubMed for confirmation and specialist information.


• Don't work with people who think borrowing the Wiki cites means they're done.


• Posters should be drafted before they are assembled. They're too big to treat as one big happy powerpoint without a map.


• Powerpoint is evil. Do poster in Photoshop, where you know how to determine image resolutions.


• Remember: it doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to be finished.

Comments

[ashcomp.livejournal.com]

That last item is sage. Other way of saying it is: determine the bare minimum acceptable product, and bust ass to produce it. If you actually finish slightly early, spray some perfume on it. If there's actually more time after you have a finished product in hand rank all the ways you could hone it to perfection. Start with the easiest, and proceed until the time is gone.

But your wording is pithier.

[ase.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I've had lots of opportunities to pare the idea to its essentials. And given my "just in time" procrastinator's approach to this stuff, "finished" is a lot better than, "two-thirds are perfect and I haven't got a bit of the last third."